The upside-down world: meetings with the Dutch masters

Introduction: The way it had to be

Where to start. Rembrandt: the shadow master ; Jan Lievens: not Rembrandt ; Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck: who is an artist? ; Carel Fabritius: the thunderclap ; Johannes Vermeer: the fingerprint beneath the frame

The picture about anything. Gerard Ter Borch: the human condition ; Pieter de Hooch: a peaceful room in a peaceful land ; Gabriël Metsu: mammonomania ; Jan Steen: the airborne peacock

Wall power. Hendrick Avercamp: the mute muse ; Frans Hals: at the crossroads ; Pieter Saenredam: infinity in the making ; Paulus Potter: the innocent eye test ; Jacob van Ruisdael: a tragedy for trees ; Albert Eckhout: the past in the land of the future

Mayflower and May flowers. Rachel Ruysch: my manly art heroine ; Adriaen Coorte: art is

Afterword: Going back home.